KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Ensuring the safety and effective performance of Navy aviation personnel is a critical part of Lt. Alexandra Kaplan’s job. Her team at Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) Dayton presented ongoing research on military female health research, aimed at overcoming health barriers faced by women in the aviation community, at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) on August 28.
NAMRU Dayton, alongside fellow commands within Navy Medicine Research and Development (NMR&D), participated in MHSRS 2024, collectively presenting 31 breakout sessions, 88 posters, multiple lectures and two manned booths in the exhibit hall.
Kaplan, principal investigator, and her team observed the challenges posed to an aviator’s cognitive and optimal performance in the face of biological needs such as efficient bladder relief.
“We are looking at what those barriers are, and whether a barrier is in the supply chain, culture or in the operational environment,” Kaplan explained.
Researchers spoke to female aviators across different aviation platforms, through a virtual focus group. Participants were asked to give feedback on their awareness and use of different hygienic and healthcare technologies.
Currently, there are technologies available that are in use for both male and female aviators.
“These products have been tested in the labs,” said Kaplan, “and a lot of people have used them in the operational environment, and have good things to say, but a lot of people do not want to use them or do not have access to them.”
Researchers also focused on specific situational factors that prevent aviators from using available technologies, such as combating stigma and a lack of privacy. While data showed urinary retention consequences for all pilots and aircrew, researchers found that female aviators were affected at a disproportionate level.
Through their research, Kaplan’s team hopes to give feedback on the functionality of bladder relief products in aviators' day-to-day lives, and are looking at any potential mission-specific challenges to using those products.
The team’s work has provided recommendations to collaborating product designers and engineers to assist in the planning, research, development and testing of new systems. Kaplan emphasized that the issues facing female aviators have solutions, and that her team is working to overcome challenges to putting those solutions into the operational setting.
“As missions get longer, humans need to attend to their bodies. Whether it is fatigue, urination or hydration, our job is to make it easier for the warfighter to do what they need to do,” Kaplan said. “Even being 3% dehydrated can reduce an aviator’s load factor tolerance significantly. It can also impact urinary tract infections and bladder infections.”
NAMRU Dayton, home of the Environmental Health Effects Laboratory and the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The command’s mission is to optimize the readiness, performance and survivability of operational forces through research into environmental health effects, toxicology and aerospace medicine.
MHSRS is the Department of Defense's premier scientific meeting that focuses specifically on the unique medical needs of service members. This annual educational symposium brings together healthcare professionals, researchers, and DoD leaders for four days of critical learning, intensive idea sharing, and relationship building.
The eight NMR&D commands, are led by the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC), and consist of Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) and Naval Medical Research Units (NAMRU) Dayton, San Antonio, EURAFCENT, INDO PACIFIC, and SOUTH, are engaged in a broad spectrum of activity from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world to investigations in operational environments. In support of the Navy, Marine Corps, and joint U.S. warfighters, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, medical modeling, simulation, operational mission support, epidemiology and behavioral sciences.
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NAMRU Dayton Presents Military Female Health Research at MHSRS 2024